Conservation

A small bindery, housed in Morton's Tower was established in the 1950s. It was set up to repair books damaged by bombing during the Blitz of 1941, when the Great Hall received a direct hit. With that work completed in the 1990s, the bindery was refitted to archival standards to become a dedicated conservation studio, where trained conservators carry out work on all aspects of our collections, such as binding conservation, the cleaning and repair of archives, manuscripts and printed books and prints.

Image:

New in Conservation

**E1440.P2 The Whole Psalter Translated into English Metre. Printed by John Daye 1567. Translated by Archbishop Matthew Parker, bound for Archbishop Parker & given by Margaret Parker to the Countess of Shrewsbury (Bess of Hardwick). 195 x 142mm

Click on the image (right) to enlarge.

This fine volume, bound by Parker's own binder has recently been conserved in the Library's conservation studio. Both boards were almost loose of the text block. The pages were cleaned, the spine rebacked in archival calf and the original spine repositioned on top of the new. The corners were repaired with toned Japanese paper. The inner joints strengthened with aero linen and marbled Japanese paper.